How to Use a Betting Exchange

Punters have always had something of a battle on their hands when it comes to them trying to get the best odds available on any sporting events that they are interested in having a financial interest in, for all bookmakers are looking to lock in a profit on any sporting events they are offering betting markets on.

That profit is known in the industry as their over-round which is a percentage of the volume of wagers placed on any one single sporting event that they expect to make, but they will only make that profit if every possible outcome they have taken bets on are balanced.

So, what they tend to do is to increase the over round they expect to make by reducing the true odds on all outcomes, and as such that is one of the main reasons why punters will often find the odds on different outcomes can and do vary from betting site to betting site.

However, a company launched many years ago called Flutter, and they had an idea of building a betting platform on which punters could not only place bets like they do with a bookmaker, but they could also lay bets, that being taking bets off other users of their betting platform known as a betting exchange.

That means anybody could in effect become a bookie themselves when using a betting exchange, and whilst Flutter was bought out by another company and rebranded, punters did warm to placing and laying bets on it as they could always find much better odds available.

The reason the odds would be higher on a betting exchange than were and are on offer from a bookmaker, betting sites or sportsbook is that each users would be eager to get the best odds when placing a bet or would be eager to get their bets matched if they are laying bets, so they tend to ask for and offer much higher odds than are available at any betting site or betting shop.

Most Popular Betting Exchange

What you should be looking or if you do fancy either placing bets or laying bets on a betting exchange is to look for a very busy one, as that way you will always be assured of having someone with an opposing view to you on those betting exchanges.

That then in turn means that you will be much more likely to get offered the odds you are asking for on a betting exchange if you are placing a bet, as those with opposing views on the outcome of any sporting event that are laying your bets will be more than happy to give you slightly higher odds.

It is therefore betting exchanges such as Betfair that is the busiest betting exchange out there, and it does matter what sporting event or sporting fixture you fancy placing a bet on you will find a betting market available at Betfair.

Clicking through our links will see you being able to claim their sign up welcome bonus, but do read through the terms and conditions before claiming it.

One final thing you do need to be fully aware of if you do fancy making use of a betting exchange is that they make their money by taking a small commission out of each winning bet, so if you place a bet and win you pay them a small commission or if you have laid a bet and you make a profit from doing so then you have to pay a small commission to Betfair too.

How to Place a Bet on a Betting Exchange

If you spot a betting opportunity on a betting exchange and you wish to place a bet on it then you have two options once you have logged into your account and there are finds available in your account.

You can either look up the odds on offer and take them instantly, or if you want to try and secure even higher odds that those you can see currently available on the betting exchange then you can do just that.

Keep in mind though that the higher the odds you ask for over and above those that are currently being offered on a betting exchange, the least likely you are to be matched up with another user of that betting exchange that is prepared to offer you those higher odds.

Once a sporting event starts such as a football match, horse race or golf tournament for example the betting market will be suspended for a second or two and will then switch over to being an in-play betting market allowing you o continue betting on it as the sporting event is in play.

How to Lay a Bet

If on the other hand you are much more interested in laying bets off other punters on a betting exchange then that is something you can very easily do once you have signed up to any betting exchange and have deposited funds into your account.

What you are tasked with doing however is to first decide just which outcome or outcomes in any upcoming sporting event you would like to play bets on, then work out just what odds you would like to offer other punters.

You will then need to work out just how much of your own money you are prepared to put at risk and then simply click onto the betting outcome you wish to lay bets in and full in all that information.

Be away though that you are required to have enough money in your betting exchange account to cover your liabilities, and those funds will be removed form your account until the result is known, if any of the punters who placed bets with you win then their winnings are removed from the money taken from your account but if they lose then you are repaid that money along with the stake money those punters placed on their bets that you laid, less the house commission.